Intel is one of many companies attending CES 2007 in Las Vegas next week. PodTech Founder and CEO John Furrier visited with Intel’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Sean Maloney to explore top tech-lifestyle trends for 2007 and the impact of new innovations coming from the chipmaker.

Transcript:

Host: John Furrier – PodTech.net

Guest: Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

John Furrier – PodTech

We’re here at Intel Corporation, this is John Furrier with PodTech.net with Sean Maloney, the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Intel Corporation that’s kind of your — you title but you also EBP, the fancy titles EBP. Welcome to this Podcast.

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Thanks John.

John Furrier – PodTech

CES is right here on the corner and 2007 is upon us. Talk about what’s happened, we did a Podcast at Sundance last year in January; we kicked off a PodTech’s business with Intel Corporation at CES last year. Talk about what’s changed in â€˜06 real quick and what do you see for 2007?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

We’re, coming out of it from a kind of computer industry points of view, 2006 was a huge year for the Notebook again all over the world. Essentially, directionally the desktop computer is kind of fighting away with the exception of gaming and everybody wants a Notebook, everyone who can afford a Notebook, owns a Notebook, So, Notebooks sales have been growing faster now than cell phones sales for about four years and that too was even more significant in 2006. So, what happens is you end up with everybody above the certain age, essentially wanting a Notebook, which means that they’re going to be carrying around their own data within, their own pictures, their own music, their own video and it will change the way that people access the net and change the way the entertainments done.

John Furrier – PodTech

2006 was our year at PodTech we really, when we did our Podcast we’re Pre-Venture Capital Funded, and then we’ve got Venture Capital. It was the year of Podcasting year of video Podcasting, the year of YouTube and — as time magazine calls it users are in charge. Talk about that trend and other things that you see happening around this whole new generation the shift that’s happening.

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Over the whole idea behind the Microprocessor back in — in the early 70’s was — it was my processor, right? And that was the personal computer, it’s mine, it’s mine and this creeps up on you gradually over a number of years and sometimes it goes slowly and sometimes it goes quickly. We’ve all talked about personal video now for a decade or so, and obviously in the last year we’ve one of those accelerated series of breakthroughs. I think, the interesting thing there is the — you’ve got confluence of two things. Firstly, you’ve got a max credibility of all video downloading and everyoneâ€˜s been talking about that.

The secondly, you’ve got the arrival of very low cost high High-def camera devices because Moore’s law means that you can just shrink the High-def security into very, very small space. So, that the collision of High-def and people uploading downloading video is going to be very profound and will have a huge impact on the next three CES’s or four CES’s.

John Furrier – PodTech

Intel Corporation, as a company is known worldwide, they’ve changed the people’s lives over the years. You talked about Moore’s law making, giving smaller. You guys have really made this happen and talk about where Intel Corporation is now and some of the new things, says you know Moore’s law of the PC’s, is all about the PC. Talk about where is now with Intel Corporation and how you’re enabling and changing people’s lives?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

I think four years ago, if you’d spoken to one of Intel Corporation execs, we would’ve been worried that there’s going to be a reduction in the requirement of a processing power, no ones worried about that right now. We’ve a whole series of segments and the market that basically have got insatiable demands of computing power. They’re asking for “Please just give us more, more, more, more”. On the client’s side, where you think maybe I don’t need that much. In turns out of course you do. We’ve converted over almost 100%, on 65 nanometer to Core 2 Duo. If you want to do High-def editing of your on little High-def pictures, which you really want to do over the next 12 months, forget it, if you don’t have a high end the Dual Core or Core 2 Duo processor. You need that kind of performance.

So, I think we’re using Moore’s law — if you just keep rising ahead on performance through multi core.

John Furrier – PodTech

Talk about the core thing for a second, about the editing, you mentioned in the editing because, I just showed you my HD camera, YouTube is part of the user generated content. People understand cameras and the images that’s easy and now the video people will be editing, talk about that trend that’s not a surprise to Intel Corporation. Talk about, the computing platform, that’s required for that it’s doables and in expensive.

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

I think, that once you see a hand held High-def image, if you’ve got kids or if you’re getting married or whatever you’re going to want that image because you’re going to want to record your life in that level of quality and even if you’re doing a most basic editing just sticking in, some headlines and putting some music on the back you need Core 2 duo processor that’s just a reality of it and you can see the machine grind to hold if you don’t. So, hi-def video editing is going to be huge in consumer in the next four or five years.

John Furrier – PodTech

Five to seven years ago, how much would the PC cost to have that kind of processing power, I mean the productivity was its so huge, I mean over 10, 20, 30,000 for high end machine.

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Yeah, I don’t — you’d have banks of machines basically if they’re doing that kind of thing and so we’re coming out now obviously with processors they’ve got billion trans, enormous numbers of transistors and computing power and no slow down, that’s the way I’ll brief for the next five to ten years.

John Furrier – PodTech

Yeah, and that’s really kind of power in the social media. Talk about the changes you’re going to see in the PC, because the PC is becoming more important obviously you’re talking about, the kind of the speech you’re getting on the Notebook. The Notebook is the new T.V, it’s the new entertainment center, it’s the new workhorse for people that’s why you know, whatâ€˜re the some of the changes that you’ve seen in the PC and what you’re going to see this year?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Well, and I am going to come across like a PC bigger, probably because I’m a PC beggar right? But first, I’d say that the high end of the PC guys are not that impressed with the current game consoles, right. Not such a dramatic breakthrough and if you look at the new Core 2 Quad, we feel very comfortable with the gaming experience, that we’ll get on a high end PC is going to match anything that comes out really on the console side. So, the PC community is still very optimistic that we can carry on in that space

John Furrier – PodTech

Gaming is key on the PC.

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Gaming is key for the desktop PC and if you sit down and you look at the gaming experience youâ€˜re getting on a quad-core and fortunate to have one at home, it’s astonishing. I can hypnotize my son and all his kids away from any game console they’ve got. So, that’s still going on. I don’t see any slowdown in that movement when we go 8th core, I’m sure we’ll use them for gaming. On the notebooks space you’ve got the growth has been so rapid that market is kind of splitting out and I think you’ll see more and more teenagers and school kids having notebook computers and so youâ€˜ll see people pushing down into new price points and that’s where these kids are going to store all of their information and I think that will feel the growth in notebooks out through the next three to five years.

John Furrier – PodTech

Yeah, notebooks I mean it is like amazing I think about my wife for that a notebook be crazy I also have a handheld mobile device. I know you are real passionate about mobility because you’ve been grouped here Intel Corporation for years, but mobility is definitely not going away. Is there a gap between the notebook and the mobility? Obviously, there is from a functionality stand point but users are looking at both devices now. Talk about mobility and how it plays in that world?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Everybody needs voice, so I think everybody has a cell phone. Most of the growth in the cell phone business now is in low income emerging markets and in many countries in the world, particular in Europe you’ve already got a 110%, 115% Penetration Rights, right? That’s really — is not really heck of a lot growth that, so, the next opportunity is in giving portable Web access and that is phenomenal opportunity, so are you going to give that best over a shrunk PC or are you going to give that best over a grown up phone and being the resident PC bigger. I happened to believe youâ€˜re going to give it best over a shrunk PC because you’re going to get consistent software issue.

An issue in that device is going to come down to do all the flash plug-ins that you have on your beautiful Website, do all of those things work perfectly and they’re more likely to work, if you’ve got standardized architecture like a PC and you shrink it down into a very small space.

John Furrier – PodTech

Well, I think people will say it’s a no-brainer obviously I want to have clips on my handheld and it will be more or — but it’s just not there yet the PC has got so much power. I mean a three minute video on a handheld disk and it’s difficult does it they mean, don’t you see that gap closing faster or slower over the next couple of years on mobility.

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

I think the issue for the hand held software, because the hand held market is so fragmented there isn’t a stable soft based to anybody’s right towards. The PC has a much more consistence software interface and so if you’re Web developer you got a much bigger target, which is why less stuff has been developed towards that the architecture — the PC architecture. I think over the next two, three years that would just get shrunk into smaller and smaller devices. You can imagine putting a PC architecture into tiny, tiny devices so that you get consistent Web experience and that will impact the home as well.

John Furrier – PodTech

You guys are in the lot of areas that obviously, that we like at PodTech and another people, media, home, mobility, Web and enterprise. Talk about the entertainment in the media. More media is coming on, you’ve got plasma screens at home, you’ve PCs, notebooks for gaming in the notebooks and the TV screens changing, it’s the PC my daughters are watching their stuff on the net now, what is the home going to look like in the next couple of years, this year or next year?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Well Last CES we stood up and announced five, which was our platform for home — not so much home server, but a PC that was optimized for moving content around the home and displaying MTV’s and there was a fair amount of skepticism this year, I think you’re going to see a lot of people displaying devices to do that and showing devices to so that because people do want to show their content around the home. I mean, a Christmas time I was with extended family and there were tones of kids who’re downloading stuff off the Web and they kept found in the walking up the TV, trying to figure out how they can show stuff from the TV. I think that is just going to become more, more common and it’s very complex and the software issues are very profound and I think the industry is going to spend two or three years tangling with that.

John Furrier – PodTech

You mean right now it’s like look (Inaudible) networking at sneaker.net some of these new plasma has USB port to plug in, just drive in maybe show some pictures, right I mean, there’s no real life Wi-Fi, TiVo is going to have some life Wi-Fi, so is it in — what stage of evolution in your mind if you had the peg the connected home? How far away are we from having that fully deployed in your mind?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Well, if want to go back and look in history, my sense is, if you compare it to the local area network, which you are doing. Right now we’re kind of beyond the Ethernet size in that we do have global protocols, particularly with Wi-Fi. So, a lot of the underlying work has been done. The difficulty now is the software because of all incompatibility and all the transcoding and all of that stuff. So, I think that over the next year, you’re going to get enthusiasts and geeks are going to be carrying on being so frustrated with not being able to get stuff off of the PC on to the TV , they’re going to start fixing it and then mass market, following on from that.

John Furrier – PodTech

So, I like how you kind of bring history and learned a lot from history, so if the PC created software boom what you did? Are you saying then that Intel Corporation is going to see software booming in because that’s what you’re saying software is challenge?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

I mean, there is a software boom already right, I don’t think there’s been any slowdown and what we’re seeing now is people grappling with how do you take advantage of Dual Core and Quant Core and so, the software industry is saying, “Gee if I’ve got a processor that can handle eight threads or more what can I do with it?” And the answer of course is, you’re going to have to do some wickedly good things particularly for consumer electronics like video.

John Furrier – PodTech

Intel Corporation has been then leader in the social media. You guys have been doing a lot of stuff on the net, I mean obviously you do a lot of advertising traditionally, and then which is as a business in big company, but you have been very aggressive in these new areas, I was exploring new ground in entertainment in terms of social musical blogging and video blogging et cetera. How do you see social media evolving, as we get YouTube generation is part of people’s live, you get – you get communities like FaceBook out there that gets a college crowd and the world is changing. I mean, how do you view that?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Well, most of the predictions that were made in the 97, 98 time and obviously all happened, right. I think, video was probably the last predictions and that’s happened over the last 18 months. I guess you got to say okay, “We’ve used up all the predictions from the Internet boom, what’s the next thing?” I think we will sit back and watch the ad revenues toggle over once again in the next 18 to 24 months and it’s going to be very difficult for the conventional media to handle that, very, very difficult. If you look at currently the companies that are trying to get out with print, who’re trying to sell off their assets, they’re facing almost no bias as in certain areas.

I think, you’d have to say that they might will be moving into some — the 1960s and 70s industries as well. I think some of the commercial aspects for next three years are going to be very challenging for people.

John Furrier – PodTech

Yeah, that’s going to be interesting to watch. Final question, media more and more media is coming, you’ve talked about gaming and I watch a lot of my kids and the young people and new generation, media is big part of lives and more media is coming on to the net and in more form people are gaming, they’re creating media. Media is happening not just textbook bloggers, you’ve got audio, you’ve got video coming in. You’ve got user generated content, youâ€˜ve got new professionals coming in. There’s a massive media on boarding going on from all different pictures, video everything. What are the challenges around the network in general, because you guys touch a lot of areas from making media flow?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Well, it’s the big change in media of course, as was predicted again ten years ago, the big change in media is personal generated media and it’s the, media that you’re going to produce, as a result of this where you don’t have to run back to studio and spend days and days on it, but you do immediately, that’s the big change. So, from our point of view having a lot of local processing power to do that kind of stuff is important. Having synchronous networks like WiMAX, where you can do upload as well as download, it’s going to be really, really important and having permanent connectivity through the air it’s going to be very, very important.

We’re big believers in pure IP networks; pure wireless IP networks and we would like to see Wi-Fi through WiMAX expended out to cover all the major natural areas and the next three years. So, you’ve got fully synchronized upload, download permanently available networks for these devices and the media issue that will dominating all of that, in my view is personal, personal generated media.

John Furrier – PodTech

Actually one more final question because CES is coming up. What do you think CES is going to look like this year? Last year was big and you had it looked like not only the consumer electronic, but yet the computer industry was there. I mean, you guys were there, Google was there and it’s now computer show its consumer electronic everywhere, it was big. What do you think it’s going to be like this year? There’re the key things that you see?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

I don’t know, I mean the last year if you walk around CES, it was basically a flat panel show and the computer company is talking about content. I will get in there on Monday night and I’ll find out. My sense is it, probably won’t be a lot different to last year, all though I think you will see people tackling more cross over devices that try and to shift content from the computer industry over into the TV side.

John Furrier – PodTech

So, more, more application oriented stuff?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

More products that move content from one device to another to another, everybody is trying to monetize their content in different kinds of devices and I think that will continue to be a significant trend.

John Furrier – PodTech

As chief sales in marketing guru with Intel Corporation what are we going to see from Intel Corporation this year?

Sean Maloney – Intel Corporation

Well, our conversion to 65 nanometers putting it in a chip head way is pretty much done and so you’re going to see mass availability of core 2gi products that means phenomenal performance. The beginnings of Cord Core in the first six months of this year and I think that 2007 will be remembered for a year when there was incredible innovation in mobile computing, notebook computing that will be the dominant thing again this year.

John Furrier – PodTech

Notebooks are booming, gaming, user generated content software on mobile devices, Sean Maloney, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, thank you very much for the Podcast.

Notebooks In the Daytime, TVs at Night, For Now It’s become old hat to suggest that the world of media is changing faster than the old media companies, and that the computer and tech world — long accustomed to turning sharp corners quickly — has the advantage of momentum...